Basketball Big at BLG Awards with Colley, Scrubb Named Top CIS Athletes

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CALGARY - Basketball players swept the Canadian university sport awards in keeping with the buzz the sport is creating in Canada.

Justine Colley of Saint Mary's University and Carleton's Philip Scrubb were named the BLG Award winners Monday as the top female and male athletes respectively in Canadian Interuniversity Sport.

With the Toronto Raptors in the NBA playoffs for the first time since 2008 and Toronto's Andrew Wiggins touted as a possible first overall pick in the NBA draft, Colley and Scrubb hope the momentum continues for hoops in Canada.

"There's a lot of excitement over basketball, which is pretty exciting since we're a pretty hockey dominant country," Colley said. "I hope more people get out to games, support all the different teams across Canada, obviously support the Raptors and hopefully they make it all the way to the final.

"It's amazing to see basketball starting to flourish in Canada."

Colley and Scrubb were just the second basketball players to sweep the BLG Awards in its 22-year history. Windsor's Jessica Clemençon and Carleton's Tyson Hinz -- a Ravens teammate of Scrubb's for the past four seasons -- were the 2011 winners.

"You see all the athletes down in the States playing in the NCAA tournament and the Raptors have finally made the playoffs and the CIS is really improving in terms of basketball as well, so I think people are starting to care a little bit more about basketball and they're recognizing our talent up here," said Scrubb.

Colley and Scrubb each received a $10,000 post-graduate scholarship. They were chosen by the Canadian Athletic Foundation, which administers the awards, from a group of eight finalists. Each nominee received a gold ring and a watch.

Colley from East Preston, N.S., took home the Jim Thompson Trophy that goes to the top female athlete and became the first athlete from Saint Mary's to win a BLG award.

"Huge honour for not only myself, but also my university," the 22-year-old guard said. "Tons of support goes into Saint Mary's athletics and not just Saint Mary's, but throughout the whole Atlantic area."

Other finalists for the Jim Thompson trophy were McGill hockey player Katia Clement-Heydra, York sprinter Khamica Bingham and University of British Columbia volleyball player Lisa Barclay.

Scrubb, from Richmond, B.C., claimed the male athlete's Doug Mitchell Trophy ahead of nominees Liam Heelis, a hockey player from Acadia, Bishop's football player Jordan Heather and University of Saskatchewan hockey player Derek Hulak.

"Coming in, I was young and didn't really know what was going on, but I've learned from past teammates to be more unselfish and try and give back because they've all done so much for me at Carleton," Scrubb said. …